Interesting Facts About a Computer Mouse

November 20, 2011

Mouse For PC

A computer mouse is a useful device that allows a person to easily navigate through software without remembering keyboard shortcuts. Not many people search for information about mice since most people consider these devices as insignificant parts of the computer but if you are interested in learning about the mouse then listed below are a few interesting facts about a mouse.

The term “mouse” was first used in Bill English’s publication released in the year 1965 and the Third edition of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary states that acceptable plural terms include computer mice and computer mouses.

Douglas Engalbart created the first prototype mouse in the year 1963 and his friend Bill English helped him create this mouse. The Royal Canadian Navy created the second mouse eleven years later and a five pin bowling ball was used in this tracking mouse. All these devices used the concept of a ball but the actual ball mouse was created in the year 1972 by Bill English.

Ball mouse devices were first manufactured for the company Xerox by Jack Hawley and these computer devices were marketed in 1975. The second type of mechanical mouse introduced to consumers was the wheel mouse and this mouse has two wheels that would rotate at the axis.

Optical devices were invented by Steve Kirsch and an infrared LED along with infrared sensors were used to create this computer mouse. Richard F Lyon created the 16 pixel light visible image sensor and this mouse was marketed by the company Xerox. An x y coordinate system was embedded in the pad that Steve Kirsch created and this mouse would not work properly when the mouse pad was rotated.